Intel Taps Arm Executive As New Data Center Boss; Michelle Johnston Holthaus To Leave

Among other executive changes announced Monday, Intel says it has appointed a two-year Arm executive as the new leader of its Data Center Group while longtime executive Michelle Johnston Holthaus, most recently CEO of Intel Products, is set to depart.

Intel said Monday that it has appointed two-year Arm executive Kevork Kechichian as the new leader of its Data Center Group among other executive changes, including the departure of longtime executive Michelle Johnston Holthaus.

Holthaus was most recently CEO of Intel Products and served as one of the company’s interim co-CEOs before Lip-Bu Tan took over as Intel’s chief executive in March. She was previously the leader of the Client Computing Group and, before that, chief revenue officer.

“Throughout her incredible career, Michelle has transformed major businesses, built high-performing teams and worked to delight our customers,” Tan said in a statement. “She has made a lasting impact on our company and inspired so many of us with her leadership. We are grateful for all Michelle has given Intel and wish her the best.”

The Santa Clara, Calif.-based company also announced that Jim Johnson will lead its Client Computing Group after serving the role on an interim basis, fresh executive hire Srinivasan Iyengar will lead a new Central Engineering Group and Intel Foundry executive Naga Chandrasekaran will take on additional foundry responsibilities.

Intel Hires From Arm To Boost Data Center Business

Kechichian, the new executive vice president and general manager of Intel’s Data Center Group, was most recently executive vice president of solutions engineering for Arm. The British chip designer has empowered the likes of Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud and Nvidia to create substantial competition for Intel CPUs in the data center and cloud infrastructure markets.

During his more than two-and-a-half-year tenure at Arm, Kechichian (pictured above) “led technology development with ecosystem partners and managed the company's transformation from IP licensing to delivering full-stack solutions,” according to Intel.

Prior to joining Arm in 2023, Kechichian worked for three years at NXP Semiconductors, where he most recently served as executive vice president of MCU and MPU engineering. Before NXP, he spent 12 years at Qualcomm, where he held top engineering roles.

“Kevork brings a powerful combination of strategic vision, technical depth, and operational rigor that will help us seize growth opportunities across the data center market,” Tan said.

Kechichian is taking over from Karin Eibschitz, who led the Data Center Group on an interim basis after the division’s previous leader, Justin Hotard, departed Intel to become the CEO of Nokia earlier this year.

Tan reorganized the Data Center Group to focus solely on CPUs roughly a month after he became Intel’s CEO while moving the company’s AI accelerator chip efforts under a new group led by Sachin Katti, who was given the role of chief AI and technology officer.

Other Executive Moves Detailed

Johnson is taking over the Client Computing Group as its permanent leader after leading the business unit temporarily since last December.

A 40-year Intel veteran, Johnson was appointed as the Client Computing Group’s interim leader when the company named Holthaus as one of Intel’s interim co-CEOs and CEO of Intel Products following the abrupt retirement of Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger in early December.

The semiconductor giant noted that Johnston has held “various engineering and leadership roles across the company, including in the Technology and Manufacturing Group, the Networking and Communications Group, and general manager of several global businesses and manufacturing plants.”

“Jim’s steady leadership and trusted relationships across the computing industry are driving continued progress in our client business as we prepare to launch a new generation of products,” Tan said.

Iyengar, who joined Intel in June to boost the company’s efforts to design custom chips for customers, is getting an expanded role after the chipmaker initially hired him to lead a new customer engineering center of excellence as senior vice president and fellow.

The expanded role will see Iyengar, a former silicon engineering leader at Cadence Design Systems, lead a new Central Engineering Group in which he will “lead horizontal engineering functions and build a new custom silicon business to serve a broad range of external customers,” according to Intel.

“With Srini leading Central Engineering, we’re aligning innovation and execution more tightly in service to customers,” Tan said.

Chandrasekaran, executive vice president and chief technology and operations officer of Intel Foundry, will see his role expand to Intel Foundry Services, the customer-facing division of the company’s contract chip manufacturing business.

As a result, Kevin O’Buckley, senior vice president and general manager of Intel Foundry Services, will report to Chandrasekaran after he previously reported directly to Tan.

The company said this move will create a “more integrated structure spanning technology development, manufacturing and go-to-market to better serve customers.” It noted that it had “consolidated technology development and manufacturing under Chandrasekaran’s leadership earlier this year.”

Holthaus Leaves After Short Stint As Intel Products CEO

Holthaus is leaving Intel after working at the company for nearly 30 years and after a short stint as the CEO of Intel Products, a role that Tan diminished soon after he came on board.

She was given the title along with the role of interim co-CEO last December following the abrupt retirement of Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger.

The Intel Products CEO title had given her oversight of the company’s main business units--the Client Computing Group, the Data Center Group and the Network and Edge Group—with the leaders of each group reporting directly to her.

But roughly a month after Tan became Intel’s CEO, he said that the leaders of Intel’s main business units would report directly to him. At the time, Tan said that Holthaus would remain CEO of Intel Products and see her responsibilities expand.

“As Michelle and I drive this work, we plan to evolve and expand her role with more details to come in the future,” he said in a memo to employees in April.